Khalil Chishty seeks SC nod to visit Pak

Eighty-year-old ailing Pakistani microbiologist Mohammed Khaleel Chishty, who was recently released from the Ajmer Jail, on Friday moved to the Supreme Court seeking its permission to visit his country.

New Delhi: Eighty-year-old ailing Pakistani microbiologist Mohammed Khaleel Chishty, who was recently released from the Ajmer Jail, on Friday moved to the Supreme Court seeking its permission to visit his country.

According to reports, the apex court has agreed to hear Chishty`s plea and has sought Central government’s response on the matter on Monday.

The ailing Pakistani microbiologist, who was serving life term in an Ajmer jail in Rajasthan in a murder case of 1992, was set free on April 09 following a direction from the Supreme Court.

A bench of justices P Sathasivam and J Chelameswar granted him the reprieve, considering his old age and the fact that he has been held up in India for the last 20 years after a murder case was lodged against him when he came on a visit to Ajmer.
The court also agreed to hear Chishty`s plea to allow him to go back to Karachi and asked him to file a separate application for it.

The bench, however, asked Chishty not to leave Ajmer till further orders.

Chishty was granted bail a day after his case was discussed between the authorities of the two countries during Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari visit to India.

Chishty, a former professor of virology and microbiology, was born in Ajmer to a prosperous family of caretakers of the Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti shrine, was studying in Pakistan at the time of partition in 1947.

After partition, he did not return to his home town till March 1992 when he came visiting his mother. However, he was arrested on charges of alleged involvement in a murder and was given a life term on January 31, 2011 by a trial court.